FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT UNIVERSITY RESEARCH PARK - PAGE 3

The Evanston City Council has rejected a proposal to build a central library in the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park in downtown Evanston. Instead, the council decided Monday night to renovate and expand the current library at Church Street and Orrington Avenue.

Charles H. Shaw Co. unveiled plans for its first multitenant building in the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park, a $5 million office and laboratory structure containing 43,000 square feet on the southwest corner of Maple Avenue and Emerson Street. Construction is scheduled to start this year.

The Evanston City Council voted Monday night to deny a request by Northwestern University and the Northwestern University Evanston Research Park to demolish an 88-year-old Commonwealth Edison power substation that has been designated a city landmark. That's good news for Northlight Theatre Company, which hopes to turn the substation into a 433-seat theater.

The Evanston City Council voted 13-4 Monday night to declare the city a nuclear-free zone. The measure, which is not an enforceable ordinance, was brought before the council at the urging of residents who gathered about 5,000 signatures on petitions asking the city council to prohibit research, development and production of nuclear weapons in the city. Organizers of the campaign are concerned that nuclear weapons research might be done at the Evanston-Northwestern University Research Park being built in downtown Evanston.

Mesirow Stein Real Estate Inc. and Scribcor Real Estate Services are planning separate office projects in the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park, which hasn't drawn office developer interest since 1991. Mesirow Stein has proposed a four-story, 90,000-square-foot building, while Scribcor is looking at two 50,000-square-foot, flexible, loft-style buildings to be used as incubator space or for small companies.

Plextel Telecommunications Inc., a startup technology company incubated in the Northwestern University Evanston Research Park and the nation's No. 1 provider of computerized dating services to radio stations, has been merged with Tango Communications Inc. CUC International, the home-shopping giant based in Stamford, Conn., bought both companies earlier this year. The merged company, called Spark Services Inc., will be based in Evanston.

Cook County Circuit Judge Robert Skoldowski has ruled that the governing boards of the Evanston/University Research Park do not have to open their meetings to the public. In a ruling Wednesday, the judge agreed with the position of Research Park Inc. and TOPCORP, the governing bodies of the park, that open meetings could hamper efforts to attract tenants for the facility. Skoldowski also held that the meetings were not subject to the state's Open Meetings Act. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by three Evanston residents who asserted that the meetings should be open because millions of dollars in Evanston tax monies are being used in the project.

An Evanston historic landmark will be spared from the wrecking ball until at least March 27 while representatives from the Northlight Theatre Company and Northwestern University try to hammer out the details of a tentative proposal to save the 88-year-old structure. The Evanston City Council on Monday night voted to postpone until later this month a vote on a request by Northwestern, the Evanston Northwestern University Research Park and Commonwealth Edison to demolish the historic three-story red brick Commmonwealth Edison substation at 912-18 Clark St. to make room for future development on the site.

Evanston's controversial downtown research park, still without a major corporate research tenant despite nearly three years of recruitment, quietly is trying something new: In an effort to make itself more appealing, it has changed its name. Before, it was the Evanston/University Research Park. Now, it's the Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park, because park promoters say the name "Evanston" just doesn`t have enough zing. "The developer did an identification study, and it was determined that the name Northwestern University had stronger national recognition and made more sense from a marketing point of view," said Ronald Kysiak, executive director of Evanston Inventure, one of the agencies that has been attempting to market the park.

The Charles H. Shaw Co. has broken ground for the first new multi-tenant building in the 24-acre Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park in north suburban Evanston. The $5 million, 43,000-square-foot building at 1890 Maple Ave. will provide laboratory space for companies locating in the research park. Completion is set for late 1988, according to Charles H. Shaw, president of the real estate development company. Designed by the Evanston-based architect firm of A.M. Kinney Associates Inc., the building will feature a reddish-tone brick and precast concrete facade with tinted, operable windows.